The Hills and Valleys of Falls Church

Stream Valleys in the
City of Falls Church

The Tripps Run
Watershed drains
two-thirds of the City of
Falls Church, while the
Four Mile Run Watershed
drains the other third.
Both Runs and all
branches are spring-fed
and used to be filled with
fish, frogs, turtles,
macrointertebrates, and
microorganisms that
filtered pollutants from
water and kept it clean.

The streams, as a result
of the paving and
development, along with
the watershed
engineering techniques
used over the years, are
now unable to
self-regulate water
quality.

The City of Falls Church is made up of a series of hills, ridges, and stream valleys. Many of these features used to have
names, and citizens could feel a sense of place that extended beyond the names of streets. By reestablishing
time-honored names of the hills, we open a door to recognizing opportunities for a more sustainable development of the
land we call home. Information on hill names came from sources in the Virginia Room of the Mary Riley Styles Library. Some
of the information was sketchy. If you have additional or conflicting informaiton or if you know of other hill names in the
City, please contact David Eckert.

The main hills in the City are listed below, along with information about each hill.

Mount Daniel
(450 ft - OC)

Prout Hill **
(450 ft - OC)

Taylor Hill
(410 ft)

Quail Hill
(410 ft - OC)

Barrett Hill ***
(400 ft - OC)

Cherry Hill
(360 ft)

Hawxhurst Hill
(360 ft)

Home Hill
(360 ft)

Winter Hill ****
(350 ft)

Mount Hope
(350 ft)

Baptist Hill *****
(340 ft - OC)

Center Hill
(330 ft)

Green Hill
(320 ft)

Tinner Hill
(310 ft)

North end of N. Oak St.

Welcome Dr.

Oakwood Cemetary

Kiessling home (Haycock Rd.)

George Mason School

City Hall Complex

Kaiser Permanente

High point of Lawton St.

Near E. Broad and N. Cherry

203 S. Oak St.

Costner Rd. off Annandale Rd.

Broadfalls Apts.

413 E. Columbia St.

S. Washington St. /Tinner Hill Rd.

L. P. Daniel, Mayor of Falls
Church, 1930 - 1940

William or D. Prout, 1850s

Taylors Tavern, 1860s

Named by the Kiesslings

D. Barrett owned hill; 19th century

Trees lining driveway from Broad St.

G. Hawxhurst, former Mayor,
owned part of hill

Original name of Lawton House

Named by James Wrenn

Name of 1790 home at top of hill

Second Baptist Church, founded
in mid-1800s

Location between East/West
Falls Church

Translation of Indian name of
hill, "Etowah"

Tinner family, owners of part of
hill since 19th century

Highest point is outside City of Falls Church limits
Height is height above sea level.
There is no specific document that describes the origin of thename. The hill has also been called Horseshoe Hill, Whiskey Hill, and Ashton Hill.
Some maps give this name to the hill across W. Broad St. in the Falls Hill area.
This is not to be confused with the townhouse area called Winter Hill, which was name after the original Winter Hill.
The name was shortened and most residents referred to the area as "The Hill".

Coe/Ellison Br Tripps Run

Sewell/Regan Br of
Tripps Run

Gunnell/Minor Br of
Tripps Run

Pearson Br of Tripps Run

Pearson Br of Tripps Run

Gundry Br of Tripps Run,
Riley Br of Four Mile Run

Four Mile Run, Church/
Brice Br of Four Mile Run

Crossman Br of Four Mile Run,
Brice Br of Tripps Run

Harrison Br of Four Mile Run,
Ives Br of Tripps Run

Coe/Pearson Br of Tripps Run

Brice Br of Tripps Run

Pearson/Coe Br of Tripps Run

Crossman & Harrison Br
Four Mile Run

Henderson/Church Br Tripps Run